There are PHP applications which use MSSQL as the back-end database and such applications require FreeTDS to enable PHP code interface with MSSQL. This article describes how to install PHP and FreeTDS on Linux hosts.

To compile or not?: Typically, it is recommended to use package managers like yum to install software on Linux platforms. Using package managers facilitates installation and administration (e.g. updates) of the software. However, when the software requires special options to be set or modules/extensions to be enabled, it may be difficult to obtain software built to suit those requirements. In such cases, it will be required to compile the software from its source. If compiling, then it will be prudent to organize all compiled software in standard locations on the host.

Given below are the implementation steps that were used for installing PHP 5.3.3 and FreeTDS 0.91 on RHEL 6.2.

NOTE: All commands in the examples below must be executed with root privileges, unless otherwise stated.

STEP 1: Create Installation Directory Structure

Use the following commands to create an appropriate directory structure for compiled software:

mkdir /opt/src

Use a standard location (e.g. /opt) to install all software compiled from source to facilitate administration (re-compilation, removal, etc.)

STEP 2: Download and Unpack Software Source

Download software sources (typically *.tar.gz files) and place them in /opt/src

Unpack source software (*.tar.gz) as per the following examples:

tar xfz php-5.3.3.tar.gz
tar xfz freetds-0.91.tar.gz

The above commands will create directories /opt/src/php-5.3.3 and /opt/src/freetds-0.91